Problems adding Ram

Hey guys
I have a Acer inspire 5100 series laptop. Today I went out and bought a dual thingy of ram for it. I flipped the computer over and opened what I thought was the door that led to the ram, but just had a big silver immovable protector thing over it. I felt this was it, since the other things I can unscrew on the bottom will take off almost the entire bottom of the computer.

Where do I install the ram? Thanks guys

 

Acer <s>Inspire</s> Aspire 5100:

1. Release the four screws holding the thermal module cover.
2. Remove the thermal module cover.
3. Pull the RAM module locks at the same time as the arrows indicate.
4. The RAM module will pop up then detach it. Repeat the anterior step to remove another RAM module.

 

hey thanks a lot man. i did it and the computer seems to be working fine. is there anything i should do just to make sure it all went right? or is the fact that its up and running evidence enough? thanks again man

 

Nawh. Everything should be fine.

As a precautionary measure, you can run Memtest86+ to test the memory for errors. There is a guide in the Dummy Section.

 

Ok well maybe not everything went great

So last night I used the computer for a long time and everything went well. This morning I go to turn it on and it comes on fine and loads up, but then once its all loaded up its fjust frozen. nothing will move. so i shut it off and restart it, the computer is working fine for about two minutes, and then it freezes up completely, and the screen starts dong something funny. i cant really explain what was happening, like i could see my desktop image, but like there were little green/yellow/red/orange dots flashing all over the screen.

any ideas? thanks in advance

 

Are you using the latest Bios for the aspire 5100? The latest version from acer is version 3.13.

 

Sorry Bios?? My computer is updated regularly so as far as I know it's all up to date.

 

Right when I get past the log in part I can move the mouse and do things, but the once something loads up on the toolbar is when it freezes.

Should I try putting in the old ram?

 

Check you BIOS version(either when your laptop boots up or by entering in the BIOS(F2)) and post it here.

 

Semi-off-topic but I really hate how Acer has RAM layered instead of side-by-side.

 

I went to the set up and it says
BIO VERSION 2.73

What next? Thanks a lot guys

 

It can be tedious but also saves space.
Ultimately though, Acer could have used a combination of layered/side by side in order to expand the RAM capacity on chipsets that support it (such as PM45) instead of making us stick with 4GB tops (at least for now) and hoping they will release a bios that supports 8GB (2x4GB sticks).

 

A little update... so I changed out the Ram cards and everything is working fine now. my computer booted up fine and is running fine now.

why did the ram cards work last night but not today? did i install it wrong. I checked to make sure I bought the wrong kind so i dont tink thats it.

 

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_5100/ <--- acer euro FTP you can get the latest updates - Bios, drivers etc from there. Your version 2.73 is quite old now (released in January of 2007) acer has fixed many issues with the aspire 5100 (via bios updates) since then.

 

Alright so I downloaded the file for the most recent update. Is tehre any chance I'm screwing up my laptop. I don't want to click the wrong thing. Inside the folder there are files for two applications (one called flash, and one called phlash) then thres also a windows batch file, and a rom file and wph file. which one do i click on.

sorry i sound like a jackass, i just dont have moneyh for a new computer should i screw this one up.

 

Nothing wrong with asking questions

Here is what you do...

Once you have the bios file from acer, unzip the package completely and you will see a file called flash32.exe, run that file. Once it is run it will check your current Bios and then begin the flashing process. The Bios on the 5100 series has 17 blocks so once the program is running you will see it zeroing out each block and then reprogramming it with the new data. Once it is finished if you cannot move the mouse or the keyboard doesn't respond the program will restart the notebook in 30secs anyway.

Caution: As always when flashing a Bios (inside of windows) make sure your notebook is plugged in and that you have disabled(closed) any antivirus/firewall/anti-spyware along with any other software running as they may interfere with the flashing process. Remember you cannot use the computer while the flash is in progress.

If all goes well you will have the latest version of the bios 3.13.

 

lol if all goes well? should it not?

so how long is this whole process goign to take? since i have not updated the bios at all will it be hours or what. i just want to make sure i dont start it when im leaving in 5 minutes. thanks again man

 

If I remember well the process only takes about 3-5mins.

I said "if all goes well" because there are some inherent dangers to flashing a Bios from inside an OS like windows. A Blue screen of death (BSOD) in the middle of the flash is always the biggest danger. You can flash the bios from outside of windows (dos) but you would need to make a bootable flash drive inorder to do it. I usually don't bother with that to often and just run the update file from inside of windows.

Atleast acer still offers you the option of a flash from dos but on my new HP all you have is a exe file that can be run only from inside of windows .

 

So is it worth updating then? Is the risk worth the reward

 

I have never had any second thoughts about flashing the bios but if you are too nervous to do it then don't.

Just watch you system over the next few days and see if it freezes again as I see acer fixed an issue with the 5100 where it could freeze randomly when 4gb of ram is installed.

 

No I think I'll do it.. although I had 2 gb in there not 4. Thanks al ot man

 

Ok so I did it. Should I do anything now or am I good to go? Should the Ram work now?

 

Did you confirm in the bios that version 3.13 is loaded? Press F2 at startup and check that the bios reports the new version.

Outside of that you should be good to go bios wise for now. My 5102wlmi is running version 3.13 and I don't get any issues with it.

Just try to keep up-to-date with drivers.

 

So I checked and the Bios update went fine. It says I have the most current one. So I switched out the old ram for the new, and it worked fine. Then my computer fell asleep and when I turned it back on, it just froze again. I put back the old memory and it works fine.

Any suggestions?